In this sermon, the speaker shares a testimony of a man who was imprisoned in Cambodia and sang a song about having a river of life flowing out of him. The speaker then discusses how sin can choke the flow of the life and spirit of God in our lives. However, Jesus invites us to come to the water and be refreshed. The speaker emphasizes the importance of receiving, learning, and drinking from the fountain of salvation and reminds the audience that they are not accidents, but rather, God formed them in the womb.

Good morning. It's been a rich blessing to be here and share together in worship and hear the testimonies of a life of faith, surrender, belief in Jesus, becoming a new creation. It's a joy to be a Christian, isn't it? I'd like to share a little testimony this morning. My dear niece, I have two sisters, Arlene and Edna Mae. My sister Edna Mae's daughter, Christine, is a mother of eight children and just a week ago she became a widow. But her husband loved the Lord Jesus. We stopped in at their house the Sunday evening when he had just passed from this life Saturday morning. She had his chair there with his tattered, well-worn Bible, a few other of his favorite things. We have a mighty Savior. Before he passed, some of his friends came to visit. I wanted to cheer him a little and, you know, identify with his suffering and empathize and said, well, I'm sure that at times, Richard, you get discouraged. And this was the Wednesday evening before he went to Gloria on Saturday morning. My dear little niece, when I say little, she's a little lady, just like my Grandma Hearst was, just slightly over five feet. She said, you should have seen my husband. He was weak, he was frail in body, but when they said, surely at times you must get discouraged. She said, he sat up in his chair and he got this look on his face and he looked this person right in the eye and said, get discouraged? He said, Jesus has said I will never leave you or forsake you. Jesus is with me. I am not discouraged. Whoo! Glory! Said no man dared ask any more questions after that. You know, longing to depart, cancer wracking his body, fourteen months long battle, but she could tell the day that God began to work deeply in her husband's heart to give him dying grace. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Hallelujah! Left a wonderful testimony with the doctors, the nurses, everybody involved, never complaining, just always trusting, leaning hard on the Lord. That was his testimony. Friday night, he'd look up into the corner of the room and just get a beautiful, far away look in his face and his eyes would come back down and he'd see his wife. It's happened a few times and she said, Richard, when you see God's angels coming to take you, you may go. You may go, Richard. The next time, he looked up with that far away longing in his face and he just closed his eyes and fell asleep in Jesus. Oh, don't you want to go to be with Jesus where there's no more pain, no more sorrows, no more tears, no more crying, no more dying and don't you want to leave a legacy like that? He told his sons, I want you to pray. I want you to pray aloud. I want you to pray around the table. And they began to do that. And once I'm not here, you pray. You know, I want that testimony in my life when it's time for me to be boxed up and put down into the earth that I have finished my course. I have run with patience the race. I have kept the faith. And I want that for you, my brother, my sister. I don't ever want to have to stand around the grave and wonder, is this person in the presence of Jesus? Oh, brothers, sisters, let us cast off the weight. Let us cast off the sin that does so evilly beset us. And let us run. Run that you may obtain. It's going to be hard. Certainly at times it's going to be hard for my dear niece. Youngest is a little under two. Oldest is 20. Daddy's gone. But she has this promise. God careth for the widow. God is a father to the fatherless. Open your Bibles to John 4. John 4, verse 3. Jesus left Judea and departed again into Galilee. And He must needs go through Samaria. Then cometh He to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus, therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well. And it was about the sixth hour there cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus saith unto her, Give Me to drink. For His disciples were gone away into the city to buy meat. Then saith the woman of Samaria unto Him, How is it that Thou, being a Jew, askest drink of Me which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give Me to drink, thou wouldst have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water. Title for the message today, Jesus, the fountain of living water. Jesus, the fountain of living water. Exclusively, Jesus, the fountain of living water. Continuing to read, The woman saith unto Him, Sir, Thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. From whence hast Thou that living water? Art Thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? And Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again. But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst. But the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. Let's kneel together for prayer. Jesus, Jesus, life the fountain. Oh, come with us. Abide, Lord Jesus, lest we meet together in vain and labor and serve all to not be tied. Father, today we recognize, Lord, that we're nothing of ourselves. We can do nothing of ourselves. I can do nothing of myself, O God. And Father, I ask in the name of Jesus that in Your kind, tender mercies and Your loving kindness, You would open up our eyes, open up our hearts to receive from You today. Oh, Lord Jesus, walk in our midst, Lord. Speak to our hearts. Speak to my heart. Oh, draw us after You and we will run after You, O God. I ask in Jesus' name that today the flock of God would be fed, ministered to by the Holy Spirit of God and we would drink deeply from the wells of living waters. Thank You, Jesus. In Your name we pray, Amen. Amen. Let's stand together and sing that beautiful prayer. O Heavenly Father and merciful Lord, we come to You now in one mind and accord. We are so undeserving to make this request, but with Your sweet Spirit, O let us be blessed. Amen. You may be seated. One thing that I miss is our children's lessons. So I thought, maybe we can apply a little bit of children's lesson to the message this morning. I have to admit, after I started down this road, I started second-guessing myself and said, Oh, Aaron, what did you get yourself into? I think if I wouldn't have sent that hotline already, I might have chickened out. A few words from the Holy Scripture said, Speak of the water of life. Psalm 36.8 Hallelujah. Ah, Jesus satisfies. Are you satisfied with Jesus this morning? Hallelujah. They shall be abundantly satisfied. Not just, you know, a little bit. Oh, abundantly satisfied. There is a river. Psalm 46.4 God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. God shall help her in that right early. Oh, there is a river. The streams whereof shall make glad the city of God. Do you need some gladness today? Is your heart full of sadness? Have you walked around sad and downcast? Oh, I remember many years ago out there in that little old Farberville we called it in Colorado. And the Farber family began to sing. He took away my sadness and He filled my heart with gladness. And we were just worshiping the Lord in the beauty of the salvation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ah, the streams make glad the city of God. God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. Do you need something stable in your life? Do you need a rock in your life? That rock is Jesus. His name is Jesus. They followed that rock. They drank of that rock. And that rock is Jesus. Hallelujah. With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. Oh, so many lovely, lovely Scriptures. When the poor and needy seek water and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them. I the God of Israel will not forsake them. I will open rivers in high places and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water and the dry land springs of water. Oh, when the poor and needy seek water and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them. I will open rivers in high places and fountains in the midst of the valleys. Are you thirsty this morning? Do you need the living waters of Christ Jesus to flood your soul because you are living in a barren and a dry and a thirsty land? Really thirsty? How thirsty am I? Am I willing to lose some sleep to seek that beautiful stream of Christ Jesus? Am I willing to put aside some pleasures to seek that beautiful stream? Oh, seek that beautiful stream! Its waters are flowing for you and for me, and they are flowing so free! Living waters! I will open rivers in high places and fountains in the midst of the valleys. Are you in a valley today? Are you facing great trial of affliction? Are you fighting hard against sin? But sin by occasion, because of that lust in my heart and that place I have given to sin, it slays me and wrestles me to the ground again. And I need a mighty deliverance. I need a victory. I need a miracle. What you need is who you need, and His name is Jesus! His name is Jesus, the Redeemer, the Deliverer, the One who is able to destroy the works of the devil in my life and in your life. Hallelujah! By His amazing grace, through many dangers and tolls and snares, I have already come. It was grace, grace that brought me safe thus far, and His grace will lead me home. My dear brothers and sisters, this morning there is a fountain flowing, a fountain flowing for sin and uncleanness. Oh, let us press in and draw out water from the wells of salvation. The beasts of the field shall honor me, the dragon and the owl, because I give waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert to give drink to my people, my chosen. This people have I formed for myself. They shall show forth my praise. I form Thee in the womb. Fear not, O Jacob, my servant and Jessarim whom I have chosen, for I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground. God knows you and I this morning. He knew me before I was even born. God formed this body, this person, this individual in the womb already. He had His hand upon me and upon you. You're not an accident today. No, you're not one of those that your parents hadn't planned for. Maybe they didn't, but God did. Hallelujah! And God knows you. He formed you. This people have I formed and chosen for myself that they shall show forth my praise. Oh, God is so good. I formed you in the womb. I will help thee, fear not. I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground. You know, we have this little object illustration here this morning. This is a very pitiful, poor illustration, isn't it? The supply of waters to flood the desert. Can you imagine how much water that takes? But with God, nothing is impossible. You say I've been in this dry and barren land for so long now and I've tried so often to conquer this sin and I am getting weary and getting tired. Oh, my brother, my sister, God is able to save to the uttermost those who will come to Him in faith and will call upon Him and believe Him. Just like our sister said, you know, I realized I just need to believe. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Like our brother said, I thought it was so complicated. I was trying so hard. And then I realized Jesus is the way. Just get on the way. Jesus is the way. Just get on the way with Jesus. Hallelujah! Get on the way with Jesus. I'm in that glory-bound way because I'm with Jesus in the way. Christ in me. I in Christ. Together united. Oh, so many references to water. In Revelation 7 he says of those that came out of great tribulation and that washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, therefore are they before the throne of God and shall serve Him day and night in His temple. And he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun light upon them nor any heat. For the Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, shall feed them and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. Revelation 21.60 says it is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto Him that is the thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. The Spirit and the Bride say, Come. Let Him that heareth say, Come. And let Him that is the thirst, Come. And whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely. Now turn with me over to John chapter 7. John chapter 7 and verse 37. Oh, I never tire of these words. I hope you never do either. John 7.37 In the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. For this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive. For the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified. If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink. These are the promises of God. These are the promises of the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you thirsty this morning? Are you thirsty for God? Are you hungry for God? He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly or his innermost being, from the depth of his being shall flow rivers of living water. Jesus is the fountain of living water. How is it with you and I? How is it this morning? Am I abiding and drinking from the streams and fountain of living water? And the living waters of Christ Jesus by the Holy Ghost are flowing in to our lives, and then we can't contain it. The living waters flow out and touch our brother and our sister. Or is there something stopping up the flow? I want you this morning, we're going to do this in two different ways. If you have something you want to identify that is choking out the flow of the living waters of God, it can be either in your own life personal testimony or something from Scripture. I want you to bring your vice grip up here and I want you to write down on these sheets of paper one word, and we're going to make it general. Not general. We're going to make it specific. Because we could just write on one word, sin. That would cover them all, wouldn't it? But is there something robbing you of the eternal living vitality, Holy Spirit anointing of God in your life that you would like to put a name to and identify it and bring your vice grip up here and write it on here, and then we're going to see what happens once we start putting some vice grips on that hose. What happens to the flow of the water? So here's a marker. Here's a whole stack of papers. Just come on up and write something on there. And I've got some Scotch tape here. We'll tape it up there. It's fastened to the vice grip that all can see. Then the second part will be we will remove those vice grips. We'll remove those papers. And we will put a premise of the Word of God there instead. We'll tape that up there. Amen? Can we be that childlike this morning in such a simple exercise? Who will come and write something that has hindered you from abiding in that flowing of the light of Christ? Thank you, Brother Robert. I was thinking I might tape it on like this. Let's take the... Let's see. I'll put this onto the handle of the vice grip. There we go. Thank you, Brother. He is here. Hallelujah. He is here. Amen. He is here. Holy, holy. I will bless His name again. He is here. Listen closely. Hear Him calling out your name. He is here. You can touch Him. You will never be the same. You know, I believe this can be a day of deliverance for us. I'll let you put it on, Brother. Do you need a victory today? Thank you. Okay, I can put it up. Thank you very much. My tongue, the words that come forth across this tongue hinders the flow. Bitterness bears a fountain open for sin and uncleanness. Do you want to put it on? Sure, go ahead. You put it on. Fear, selfishness, unfaithfulness. Thank you. Whoso confesses and forsakes his sin shall have mercy. Jesus Christ is conqueror. He was manifested to destroy the works of the devil. Sin shall not have dominion over you. There is a river that flows from God above. There is a fountain that's filled with His great love. Come to this water. There is a vast supply. There is a river that never shall run dry. And you know, it might seem small at first. Water's still flowing pretty good. I'm still doing okay. But you know, sin doesn't stay satisfied at the same level, does it? It begins to get a deeper and stronger grip. It begins to choke the flow of the life and Spirit of God. And Jesus said, Come to the water. Stand by My side. I know you are thirsty. You won't be denied. I felt every teardrop when in darkness you cried. And I strove to remind you that for those tears I died. You know, usually one sin will lead to another, doesn't it? Unforgiveness leads to bitterness. Probably most of the sins we deal with have a root in pride, don't they? I was given a second-hand message. I was told pliers. Okay. So I brought a cutting pliers. Okay. We better not put that one up with that tool. It might illustrate well though the cutting off and the mortifying and the putting to death of the old man and his deeds. It doesn't look very pretty, does it? I'm ready to get that down, aren't you? I think all these vice grips have the curved jaw. So you know what's happening to my illustration? It's letting the water go through the middle of the curved jaw. That one did it. What is it? Bitterness. A root of bitterness. Yes. Wow, I hadn't intended that to be that graphic in the illustration. But could it be there's truth to that? Because a root of bitterness springing up and defiles many. Marks of the last days is unthankful. Unthankfulness. Self-focus. It's all about me. Brother Robert often reminds me, Aaron, it's not about me. It's not about you. It's about Jesus. It's about Jesus Christ. It's not about us. Doubt and unbelief. Same thing, right? Unbelief. Evil heart of unbelief. My tongue, James tells us, we can control ships with a rudder and guide that big ship. We can tame wild beasts, but the tongue can no man tame. But the man, Christ Jesus, He can when we confess our gossip and our slander and our backbiting and our whisperings and we are sick and tired of them and we repent. I slandered you, brother. I spoke evil of you, sister. Will you please forgive me? And we are willing to go back and humble ourselves and repent. Bitterness we already touched on. Pride. The monster. Fear. Doesn't come from God, does it? God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind. Disrespect. We shared in our cell group the other evening about honor. And our brother Aaron Ulrich in his message mentioned that when we show honor one to another, we showcase God's glory. But see, the world doesn't operate that way in much respect. Not altogether. But you know, when God's people honor, we showcase God's glory. Honor the Lord. Honor one another. Respect one another. Worry. Anxieties. Worries. Closely connected to the fear. Pride again. And self-condemnation. Just condemning myself. I am just so rotten. I am just such a no good. There is a very evil side to that. But there is a healthy side to it. Where Paul said, I have no confidence in this flesh. Nothing. I don't rely on myself. But not a condemning myself. But rather, believing that God made me in His image for His glory. And I am salvageable and redeemable and precious in His sight. Amen? Negative thoughts. Selfishness. Unfaithfulness. Lack of reverence and honor. And that can be toward people or it can be toward the Lord. A lack of reverence. The fear of God. Reverential fear of God. Reverencing the Lord. Jesus invites us to come. Everyone that is thirsty to come and drink. You know, it's the will of the Lord that His children be filled with His Holy Spirit. And walk in fruitfulness. And that there isn't anything choking out the Word of God. Now, is it a fight? Yes, it is. It's a struggle. We need to deal with that old pride over and over. But praise God, there is victory in Jesus. And just because I'm tempted does not mean I'm sinning. I can surrender myself to God. I can submit myself to God. Yield myself to God and cry out to God, Lord Jesus, cleanse me and wash me from every evil thing that is unlike Christ. Cleanse me, wash me thoroughly from all my sin and iniquity and fill me with Your Holy Spirit. Give me a quickened conscience to walk in the Spirit and not make provision for the lust of the flesh. Well, it's time to take these down. You want to come take them down for me? Come on, come over here and take them down. Let's get them off of there quick. It's time. Come up here and take them down. Shall we? Shall we take them down? Get them off there. Get the water flowing. And put up a promise. Anybody want to come? We can all come at once. We don't have to go by order. Everybody who put something up here, why don't you come and take it down? In Jesus' name, believe in faith that there is victory in Jesus. There is victory for me. There is life for me. There is healing for me. There is deliverance for me. Oh, praise God. And Jesus said, Come to the water. Stand by My side. I know you are thirsty. You won't be denied. I felt every teardrop when in darkness you cried. And I strove to remind you that for those tears I died. It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto Him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things. And I will be His God, and He shall be My Son. You know, when that bitterness of vice grips came off the water, jumped up, did you see that? A brother almost got splashed a little bit. That's how it is in the spiritual life. When we get rid of those things that have plagued us, that bitterness, that unforgiveness, the water will splash out. The pressure will come back and the fountain will flow. Oh, thank You, Jesus. I'm going to close here very shortly. But I'd like to just say, my dear brother, sister, God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him and His promises are yes and amen, He said, I will pour water upon him that is thirsty. Alright, so I say I'm thirsty. If you could follow me around for a month, what will my life declare to you? Am I thirsty? For God? So very kindly, I just ask us. It would be good. It's a little bit like a brother said in our Sunday school class this morning. He said, you know, if we don't have it before us, we can become neglectful of a good thing that God has spoken of in His Word. So how is my communion and fellowship with God? If we were to chart it up here, 24 hours in a day, 7 days a week, if we were to chart it here, chart my life, where I spend my time, what I'm thinking about, what I'm seeking after, what I value, I encourage us to do that. I think it would be a good exercise to just get honest before God and myself and say, I don't want to kid myself. I don't want to deceive my own heart. I want to be real with God. And if you want an extra encouragement, do it with a brother or a sister and say, let's share notes. Let's pray for one another and exhort one another to abundant life in Jesus. You know, it really grieves me when I hear that, you know, some are not praying very much, not very much in the Word of God. I mean, life is just running at high speed and I'm just barely, my feet touch the ground every now and then. Everything else is pushing. Brother, sister, in order to have the flow of the Holy Spirit of God and the living waters of God, we need to drink, don't we? You know, if the baby doesn't drink and desire the sincere milk, is it going to grow? And He says we're like babies. We're like newborn babies. Ah, we crave and desire that milk. That we may grow. The promise stands for you and I today. Whosoever will, whosoever is at thirst, let him come. Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely. Jesus, the fountain of living waters, drinking at the springs of living water. Happy now am I. My soul is satisfied. Drinking at the springs of living water. Wonderful, bountiful supply. Amen. God bless you. Thank you for your participation. Thank you very much, Aaron, for preaching life to us today. You know, I thought of Jesus Christ there on the cross. He said those words, I thirst. I don't know what all those words meant. I'm sure there's much deep meaning behind that cry. But the thing that's so exciting to me is that in His great thirst, He brought water to me. Thank you, Jesus. Does anyone have a testimony or a comment you would like to give here? Just raise your hand if you do. Get a mic to you. Dwight. All right, 27, 28 years ago, I heard the testimony of a man. And I'd like to tell you one thing I remember from that testimony. As I remembered, this man was in Cambodia, imprisoned in an underground pit. And in his imprisonment, he sang repeatedly hundreds of times, I got a river of life flowing out of me. Makes the lame to walk and the blind to see. Opens prison doors set the captive free. I got a river of life flowing out of me. Spring up a well within my soul. Spring up a well and make me whole. Spring up a well and give to me that life abundantly. About two months ago, I think I learned what he knew. I've always liked that song, but I think I understand it rightly now. I always thought the song was, okay, there's life in me flowing out to others. But that's not what the song's about. I'm the lame man. I'm the blind man. I'm the imprisoned man. Spring up a well within my soul and give me that life abundantly. And so my wife and I have been singing that more recently. It's ministering life and faith to us. Someone else. I'd like to echo a promise that was already shared. Aaron did read the promise about if any man thirsts, let him come to me and drink. The word come. That was our invitation. Come. Drink. In another scripture in Matthew, he says, Come. If you're weary, you're heavy laden, I will give you rest. Learn from me. So the invitation is really simple. Come. Receive. Learn. Drink. Some of you all know that I had gone through depression and I'd been demon possessed. But I'm choosing to choose not to be discouraged and not to get into distractions. And I thank you for all your prayers and do covet your prayers. Make no agreements with the enemy. Make no agreements. Anyone else? We can move along here. Go ahead. Yes, I didn't have vice grips, but what was coming to my mind was self and just busyness, being at ease. And this past week as we've been dealing with different things in our lives, God has been opening up this stream. I thank Him for it. This morning, the worship service was so meaningful to me. Just all the names of God and then the message following that. His Father heart has just really been ministering to me lately. Two weeks ago, I started realizing there were some areas in my life, things that I thought were normal that shouldn't be normal to the child of God. And I didn't know what was causing the flow to just not be there. So my husband and I started praying. We were talking about it. And through talking to different people, I guess I didn't really talk to a lot of people about it. God just really revealed Himself to me through testimony from someone else. They didn't even know they were ministering to me. And His heart, He really longs for us to have that flow. And if we ask Him when we don't know, when we realize that flow isn't there in an area of our life, He will be faithful to show us what is clogging, what is stopping that flow from coming through. I've been experiencing so much freedom from shame. And life is just different without that they're slowing that flow down. And I just want to praise God. Yes, this message is very exciting to me. Thank you, Brother Aaron. The life that is in Christ is so rich and so full. And I just want to bless my dear sisters that had the courage to go up and to acknowledge the sin that is stopping the flow. And I want to pray a blessing upon you. I will be praying for you that you will find freedom. And there's nothing that excites me more than seeing blockages removed and sin removed so that the flow of Christ can move and flow through your life. And I'm excited about that, that God's river of living water is going to flow through your life. Yeah, I just was thinking as you were speaking here. You know, if you have identified something that is blocking your communion with God, the beautiful, the great news is that the cross still stands. It still stands. Thank you for listening. We hope this message has blessed you. If you would like additional messages, please visit our website at ccfsermons.org Call us at 855-55-CHARITY or write to us at Charity Christian Fellowship 59 South Groffdale Road, Leola, PA 17540 This ministry is supported by your donations. May Jesus Christ be Lord of all.